With the advent of modern portable electronic devices such as two-way radios, smart telephones, and other communication devices, end users demand increasingly complex, power-intensive functionality. Batteries and other portable energy storage methods continue to scale in energy density to meet demand. Methods for interconnecting and charging electronic devices must likewise scale to offer greater performance and connectivity. Legacy portable devices often provide only a simple pair of bare electrical terminals to a charger for recharging the energy storage system, such as a battery, within these devices. Not all chargers provide a direct battery terminal connection, or two-terminal connection, for charging portable devices. Some battery chargers implement a multi- or many-pin interface, such as the universal serial bus, that require more than two electrical connections for charging or communicating with portable devices. As a result, portable devices designed to be charged through a bare two-terminal interface are incompatible with battery chargers that implement a multi- or many-pin electrical interface such as the universal serial bus connector (for example, a USB-C or universal serial bus type-C connector).
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.